Regain: Revenge of the Greatest

The great city, the city-state of Rezelus. Incredible metal walls lined its border, protecting the holy place inside. The large golden torches that sit above its walls hold white eternal flames that give light to the glorious city. It is an impressive and a wonderful sight to see. But for Kael, it was a lonely place that hindered his noble objective.

The teleportation platform that they used brought them in a room lined with more teleportation platforms. Almost simultaneously, the platforms brought other children from other kingdoms accompanied with unnamed mages.

As the two children looked around the lengthy room, they saw people in deep blue robes waiting for them. All of those people have the same golden necklace, a coat of arms with an inscription “Shield of the Divine Emperor” written in formal language. The teleportation platforms were each managed by a pair of those people.

Kael remembered the Earl, as he looked at the golden necklaces of the blue robed servants. The same coat of arms as the Earl’s, which made him think that the Earl was the same as them.

“Greetings, chosen ones”, the protectors, as the blue robed servants were called, said in unison.

The unnamed mages greeted the protectors in return, which caused the children to do the same.

[Barrier]

Kael didn’t expect what just happened. The protectors separated the teleportation platforms into isolated rooms. They couldn’t see nor hear whatever was happening on the other platforms.

“Now, shall we start the assessment?”, one of the protectors said.

The unnamed mage agreed, and he led Lenan to go near the protectors. One of the protectors held Lenan’s hand, and shortly after, Lenan started glowing.

“Impressive! The Divine Emperor gifted such high mana capacity”, the protector holding Lenan’s hand said. He was delighted, and so was the unnamed mage. “What’s his name?”

“He was named Lenan, great protector”, the unnamed mage answered.

Kael was led to the protectors next. He went without resistance, but he wished he had the emotional strength to do so. Same as Lenan, he was held by one of the protectors, then almost instantly, he started glowing.

The unnamed mage went from being so excited to being so shocked, as he witnessed how quick did the excess mana came out of Kael. The protectors looked at him, and it was a terrible thing that they did.

“What’s his name?”, the protector holding Kael said. He was hiding the disappointment he felt, as he saw Kael lit up instantly.

“Kael, great protector”, the unnamed mage answered, like he was doubting what he just said.

The other protector joined the discourse. “What’s the meaning of this?”

The unnamed mage couldn’t answer.

“Why did you violate this holy place?”, the protector that assessed Kael said. He released Kael from his hand like he was disgusted.

“Th–that’s not…”, the unnamed mage stuttered.

“You disrespected the Divine Emperor for this act!”, the other protector declared. It was clear that both of them were furious that the unnamed mage brought someone with such a low mana capacity.

The unnamed mage was defeated with all the scolding he received. He was sure that Kael will be his greatest achievement as a servant of the Divine Emperor. However, the child became a dreadful curse to him, as he will inevitably face the consequence of what he did.

“Please, great protectors, forgive your servant”, the unnamed mage pleaded.

The protectors didn’t listen to the unnamed mage. They escorted Lenan out of the teleportation room to give the child time to prepare for the sanctification. Kael and the unnamed mage were left in the room.

“Wh–what happened?”. The unnamed mage was on his knees, asking himself questions he didn’t know how to answer.

As Kael looked at the terrified and distraught mage, he felt pity and guilt. He felt guilty for wanting the situation that he was in at that moment. He wanted to comfort someone once again, forgetting the fact that he just got his freedom.

Eventually, one protector returned. It was the one that made the assessment, and also the one more irritated towards the unnamed mage.

“Return to your kingdom,”, the protector said to Kael. Then, he looked down on the unnamed mage. “This one committed a grave sin for bringing you here”

Kael went on to the teleportation platform, but he was not as eager as before. He thought of using “Late Cost”, and let the protector assess him again, but the protector was pushing him to return to Ucar as quickly as possible. By then, he was suspicious of the protector. He looked at the unnamed mage again, and it was evident that the pitiful mage was terrified. Now, why would the mage feel that terrified? He wanted to know, but the protector activated the teleportation platform before he could ask. And so, he returned to the kingdom of Ucar, unable to help the unnamed mage.

The Earl was prepared to return to Cleron. He wanted to at least see Kael once again, but he knew that that’s not possible anymore. Even still, he wanted to go to the teleportation room one last time, desperately wishing that Kael will come back. He was surprised when he went to the room, as what he wished actually happened.

“Kael..”, the Earl uttered. He was hiding the happiness he was feeling.

Kael didn’t notice the Earl, as he was desperate to return back to Rezelus. Unfortunately, everything that he did failed to make the platform work. He kept on trying, but he quickly realized that it was hopeless.

The Earl was puzzled, as he was looking at the frantic child. He wanted to ask why Kael came back. “Kael, what’s going on?”

Kael came back to his senses. He ran to the Earl immediately.

“Earl Gideon, I need your help”

The Earl apologized, as he knew that the teleportation platform only opens at Rezelus. Hearing this, Kael pleaded that someone activate the platform for him. The Earl denied his request, which made Kael return to the platform, retrying all that he did attempting to activate it.

“Kael, calm down”, the Earl said, worried about the behavior of the child.

“I can’t, there’s someone I need to save”, Kael replied.

The Earl was intrigued and felt that he should help, but he could only help Kael if he knew what’s going on.

“Kael,”, the Earl held the child by the shoulder. “Calm down. I will help you. Just tell me what’s going on”